invincible

This is possibly the first example of a DRS decision which has been paid for by the Respondent rather than the Complainant. The Respondent won.

If anyone finds any others it might be interesting to reference them in this thread and indicate whether the Respondent or the Complainant won.

Nigel

Yes - very interesting case - Hats off to the respondent for his no-nonsense, no expense spared, defence of a generic domain.

Edwin

It's a very interesting case, indeed - just a shame that the expert found that the Complainant had ANY rights to such a highly generic domain (even though they lost comprehensively overall).

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admin

Interesting it mentions the respondent's previous DRS case, aren't they taken in isolation? What does a previous case have to do with any new one?

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mally

How much would this have cost both sides?

afx

If it was my name I would be glad the decision went the right way but that's about it.

"Complainant has built up goodwill in Racing UK as a horse racing TV channel, sufficient to establish enforceable rights in passing off under English law."

I dont agree that a DRS expert has any right to comment on what may or may not constitute law; the DRS has no basis in law and IMO the experts should focus only on the DRS policy.

The complainant has not spent a penny and it wouldn't suprise me if they now begin bringing a passing off case encouraged by the expert.

Also, IMO there is a stonger case for why this is domain hijacking than why it isn't.

invincible

Respondent would pay £750 + VAT for a full decision, as usual. Complainant wouldn't have paid anything. Other costs would obviously be time, cost of Complaint and Response preparation and any solicitor fees (Respondent was represented by Adlex).

invincible

If the Respondent had lost at least three DRS' in the past two years which that Respondent hasn't then 3c of the Policy states: "There shall be a presumption of Abusive Registration if the Complainant proves that the Respondent has been found to have made an Abusive Registration in three (3) or more DRS cases in the two (2) years before the Complaint was filed. This presumption can be rebutted (see paragraphs 4(a)(iv) and 4 (c))." so that is one reason why previous cases are sometimes referenced.

Also in the new DRS policy at 3a iii: "The Complainant can demonstrate that the Respondent is engaged in a pattern of registrations where the Respondent is the registrant of domain names (under .uk or otherwise) which correspond to well known names or trade marks in which the Respondent has no apparent rights, and the Domain Name is part of that pattern." So, again, if the Respondent had lost other decisions then the current Complainant could suggest that they all formed part of a pattern.

Incidentally, prior to the 2004 (or possibly 2005) DRS policy review and revision, 3a iii was preceded by the words "In combination with other circumstances indicating that the Domain Name in dispute is an Abusive Registration,..." however those words were removed four years ago. The removal of those words facilitated the loss of alternate.co.uk (see Question 7 on page 2 although the answer refers to the numbering used in the previous policy, not the current policy numbering, so 2(c)III is now 3(a)III).

GreyWing

The expert bottled it I'm afraid, if that was anyone else that would have gone against the respondent. Only the fact that he has already shown he knows the system and the ability to win an appeal does the expert put a bit more thought into it and dare I say give the correct decision.

I don't have dealings with tagnames and not too fond of his attitude to enquiries, so don't bother with him, but it doesn't sound like him to put any adverts on his sites. I think the complainant is making that up.

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grantw

You have to give respect to tagnames for forking out money on numerous occassions to right wrong decisions or as in this case to make a point.

Grant

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